Have you noticed a considerable decline in local and regional retail businesses over the years?
Small groceries, pharmacies, hardware, music shops, bookstores have lost out to what we now call “Big Box”.
Some of this can be contributed to changing shopping tastes. Big Box can offer the stock and breadth of products that smaller retailers cannot. I admit that I go to Big Box for this reason. Also, Big Box has a stronger online presence that some retail businesses have either not adapted well to or refuse to.
Robinson-Patman Act
Local and regional retailers do have the support of the Robinson-Patman Act. It was enacted in 1936 by Senator Joseph T. Robinson of Arkansas and Representative Wright Patman of Texas. The Act was designed to restrict price discrimination by large suppliers and protect small retailers from national chain stores. Suppliers could offer discounts to retailers who bought in bulk, but criteria had to be available to any retailer, without favoritism to individual ones.
The 1980’s saw enforcement begin to wane, as challenges to price discrimination began being seen as anti-competitive. Businesses were allowed to violate either the law or the spirit of the law and get away with it.
Walmart and Pepsi Collusion
In late 2025 The Institute of Local Self Reliance sued the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to make public censored details from the case involving PepsiCo and Walmart. Brought by three Walmart customers, the suit alleged that PepsiCo was informing Walmart what other retailers were paying for the product and conspiring with Walmart’s knowledge to charge them a lower price, in keeping with Walmart’s well-known message of having lower prices. The Trump Administration subsequently supported the decision by the current FTC to not pursue it any further.
Legislation
On March 19, 2026, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut filed in Congress the Fair Prices for Local Businesses Act. In effect it would strengthen the Robinson-Patman act by eliminating loopholes that currently allow large companies from striking better deals with suppliers than their smaller rivals. In other words, it would further codify as illegal the arrangement that occurred between Walmart and PepsiCo.
Conclusion
One thing I advocate is strengthening anti-trust laws to allow for a greater definition of what anti-trust and anti-monopoly behavior is. This can allow judges have better clarity as to what is in violation and what isn’t. I support this law. Equally important, it should go further and eliminate bulk discounts to large retailers. Testimony from local and regional retailers on this would be welcome, and the media picks up on it as a priority.
Contact your Senators and ask them to support this legislation. At the same time ask them to support the Break Up Big Medicine Act, a bi-partisan legislation by Senators Hawley and Warren. This targets Big Pharma and its acquisitions of health care companies and pharmacies.
